Free event to be offered virtually
March 4, 2021
Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) will host a free lecture next Tuesday on traditional Tlingit knowledge of ice-flow seal hunting in Disenchantment Bay, Yakutat, Alaska.
The lecture will be presented by Judith Daxootsú Ramos, assistant professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Generations of Indigenous people have adapted to the Gulf Coast-to-Yakutat Bay ecosystem, Ramos wrote, accumulating traditional knowledge about this unique maritime region and developing hunting methods and technologies for harvesting sea mammals from its waters.
“This talk will describe Yakutat Tlingit traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and cultural practices surrounding the hunting of harbor seals near Hubbard Glacier in Disenchantment Bay,” Ramos wrote.
The presentation, which is scheduled at noon on Tuesday, March 9, is part of a lecture series this month focusing on subsistence in various Alaska Native communities and factors that impact traditional subsistence practices.
All lectures will be livestreamed at 12 pm Alaska time on SHI’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/c/SealaskaHeritageInstitute and available for viewing on YouTube any time after the livestream (no account required).
This program is provided under the Preparing Indigenous Teachers and Administrators for Alaska Schools (PITAAS) program and funded by the Alaska Native Education Program.
Judith Dax̱ootsú Ramos is Tlingit, Raven Moiety, , Kwaashk’íkwáan, Laax̱aayík Kwáan (Yaakwdát Kwáan) and Owl House of Yakutat. She is an assistant professor for the department of Alaska Native studies and rural development at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She is an advisor for the American Museum of Natural History’s renovation of the Northwest Coast Hall and an issue editor for Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies. She volunteers for her tribe to help establish the Frederica de Laguna Research Center, Library and Archive.
Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI also conducts social scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee and a Southeast Regional Language Committee.
CONTACT: Amy Fletcher, SHI Media and Publications Director, 907.586.9116, amy.fletcher@sealaska.com.
